Marriage Preparation

Marriage is a significant step in life and it is not something to be entered into lightly. Unfortunately, in our overly materialistic culture, the pressure in the engagement period is more about planning an elaborate (and expensive) party rather than taking the time to prepare yourselves for being married to someone for the rest of your life.

In addition, Catholic marriage (or Matrimony) comes with additional obligations. It’s important that you understand these before you commit to them.

Marriage preparation is a process to help you and your fiance prepare for married life. Just like having a healthy diet helps prevent you getting sick, and recover more quickly when you do, Marriage Prep is the same for your relationship. Studies have shown that couples who do good quality marriage preparation have a lower rate of divorce and better relationship resilience when hard times inevitably come.

SmartLoving Engaged has been working with engaged couples for over a decade and we have refined all our insights to bring you a comprehensive course that gives you and your fiance a safe space to ask the important questions and put your love on a solid foundation.

Yes. Your final documentation includes a certificate and a feedback report for your celebrant (or the person supervising your preparation if you are marrying overseas).

SmartLoving Engaged has been approved for use in dioceses around the world for over 10 years including throughout Australia, New Zealand, UK, parts of the USA and Asia and others. We are also in the process of obtaining an Imprimatur for the course.

If your celebrant has concerns about the quality or efficacy of SmartLoving Engaged, please give us his contact details and we will personally reassure him.

The course includes powerful insights and frameworks from the field of relationship science which applies to any couple regardless of their religious background or practice.

The course is also designed to prepare you for Catholic marriage so the course includes Catholic theology and Sacramental preparation. The wisdom of Pope John Paul II and his Theology of the Body is frequently referenced throughout the course and the theology is up to date and highly relevant to contemporary couples.

Many non-catholic participants have reported that they found the course extremely valuable and did not feel pressured or excluded in any way by the Catholic material. Most affirm that they value having the insight into their fiance’s faith background, and some express interest in exploring the Catholic faith further.

Absolutely!

We’re sure you know couples married for many years whose relationship has broken down. While the reasons are generally complex, one thing is certain: living together does not mean that a couple has everything worked out!

When a couple marries in the Catholic church, a course is mandated for several significant reasons:

• The first is to provide the sacramental and spiritual formation to prepare you for the important church ritual in which you are about to participate.
• The second is to inform you fully of the commitment you are undertaking so that you can make an informed decision to participate without reservation.
• Thirdly, as Catholic marriage is considered permanent and unbreakable before God, the course is designed to equip you with insights and skills to  help you be successful in your marriage.

It would be completely negligent of us to let you make a commitment in a Catholic wedding service without fully informing you of the requirements and training you to fulfill them. While we understand that many engaged couples find the preparation course onerous, we also know that looking back, you will appreciate it’s benefits and be grateful for the time you spent with us.

Both formats cover the same content.

The advantage of the face-to-face mentoring format is that you get a dedicated married couple who are focused on you and your fiancé over the duration of the course. They welcome you into their home and go through the course with you, using discussion points along the way. It brings the reality of marriage out in front of you through the mentor couple and their family.

Face-to-face group courses give you exposure to other engaged couples in your area. Having others to do the course alongside you can be an encouragement to participate more fully, and assists in building community networks.

The online course allows you to work at your own pace and on your own schedule. It offers two tracks – celebrant supervised (self-directed) and parish mentor (where a married couple accompanies you through the course). The main difference between face-to-face mentoring and parish mentoring with the online course, is that parish mentors are usually doing the course for the first time themselves.

We want to assure you that your privacy is always respected regardless of the course format you choose.

All activities are designed as individual reflections or couple sharings.

While some formats provide opportunities for group discussion, no one is ever obliged to share personal information about their relationship unless they so desire. Any discussion that take place between mentors and engaged are considered confidential.

Don’t worry! You can’t fail the course and our goal is to equip you for success in your marriage so we’re committed to seeing you flourish.

Provided that you attend all the sessions and make a reasonable effort to participate in the activities, you will get a certificate at the end of the course for your celebrant.